The sweet smell of success.

Today I planned to do a long run. By long, I mean putting some real miles in the tank and getting a solid start to the week which, after today, will be fairly easy in the build up to English Schools. With Friday's hill reps out of the legs and nothing hard planned for tomorrow, I decided to try and run this at a reasonable pace. Naturally however, the intention was to get the miles in rather than to try and break the land speed record.
I programmed the Garmin for a steady 8 miles in 1 hour giving me a pace of 7:30/mile. Theoretically I knew I should be running faster, but this would hopefully give me something to pace a nice slow start with and enable me to kick on in the later stages of the run with plenty left in the tank. I was determined to not make the same mistake as yesterday and therefore gave my Breakfast plenty of time to settle. I set off at a nice steady pace but the Garmin was telling me that I was moving away from the 7:30/mile pace quite quickly. I thought to myself, 'to hell with it!' I was feeling very comfortable at the 7:00/mile pace I was operating at and so continued. There was some tough climbs in the first 2 miles or so which were on road but I felt to sail up them. The road soon became Canal towpath and despite being much flatter, the towpath was muddy and therefore not quite as fast as the tarmac.
I felt to be flying down the canal despite the severe headwind which did its best to blow me backwards at times. I have to say, I hate whoever designed the canal! The number of twists and turns it takes, unecessarily, are unbelievable! After running about 2 miles further than needed (!) I left the canal and the terrain was a muddy farm track which took a lot out of me. East Marton, the halfway point in the run was however very close now and so I stuck it out. I turned after 4 miles of running and began my journey home. I was back onto the dreaded farm track before I knew it and then the canal, twisting its way through the countryside, before hitting the road.
As soon as I hit the road, I kicked on in the hope that I could post a very good time baring in mind how good I had felt. Even though there was 2 miles to go (a 1/4 of the total distance!) I began to wind it up for the finish. 2 miles soon became 1 and as I glanced at my watch, I knew I was on for a very good time - 7 miles done in 46 minutes. Could I find an extra gear in the final mile and finish the session in style? Indeed I could, running the last mile in 5:47, giving me an overall time of 51:47 for 8 miles and a pace of 6:29/mile overall. I was ecstatic - for a run over all sorts of terrain with difficult undulations to contend with, this was a superb result.
I felt to be back at my best after what can only be described as a lousy run yesterday. This will give me a huge boost of confidence going into next Saturday and has really set the week up well. This was a long run made hard by the effort I gave in the last mile. It feels really good after having such a good/hard session to know you have an easy week ahead.
A steady run will follow tomorrow, before the EGS Relays in Aireville Park on Wednesday which will act as a great sharpener for the English Schools. Happy days!